I believe that dance was the first art. A philosopher has said that dance and architecture were the first arts. I believe that dance was first because it's gesture, it's communication. That doesn't mean it's telling a story, but it means it's communicating a feeling, a sensation to people.

Nobody cares if you can't dance well.

Sometimes it's blood memory... not the blood your mother and father gave you... but that which stretches back two or three thousand years.

I don't try to tell the dancers exactly what a dance means before they do it.

The reason dance has held such an ageless magic for the world is that it has been the symbol of the performance of living.

In 1980, a well-meaning fundraiser came to see me and said, "Miss Graham, the most powerful thing you have going for you to raise money is your respectability." I wanted to spit. Respectable! Show me any artist who wants to be respectable.

The next time you look into the mirror, just look at the way the ears rest next to the head; look at the way the hairline grows; think of all the little bones in your wrist. It is a miracle. And the dance is a celebration of that miracle.